Pilfer-proof dispensing carton for package strips



J. R. STRANG Dec. 31, 1963 PILFER-PROOF DISPENSING CARTON FOR PACKAGESTRIPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 18. 1.961

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PILFER-PROQF' DISPENSING CARTON FOR PACKAGE STRIPS Filed Sept. 18. 19612 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVZ/YT m2 Jofin jip zf-i'ary,

2? Y ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,115,989 PILFER-PROQF DISPENSINGCARTON FUR PACKAGE STRIPS John R. Strang, Summit, N.J., assignor tolivers-Lee Company, Newark, NJ, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept.18, 1961, Ser. No. 138,810 1 Claim. (til. 22125) This invention relatesin general to a carton of the type shown in United States Patent No.2,771,214, dated November 20, 1956, and the co-pending application ofFrank J. Lefebvre and John R. OMeara, Serial No. 15,320, filed March 16,1960, now Patent No. 3,001,643, for shipping and dispensing a packagestrip of the type that has commodity-containing compartments spacedlongitudinally thereof and is severable between said compartments sothat the compartments can be separated from the strip individually or ingroups, as desired. Generally the package strips comprise layers ofpackaging material that are sealed together to form compartments betweenthem for a commodity such as tablets, powder or paste, and the stripsare weakened in lines transverse of the strip, as by scoring, tofacilitate separation of the individual packages. The present inventionis especially concerned with a carton for dispensing such a packagestrip which is spirally rolled and enclosed in the carton so that thestrip can be pulled longitudinally through an opening in the carton topermit the package at the leading end of the strip to be pulled from thecarton and be separated from the strip as by tearing the striptransversely along one of said weakened lines or scoring.

Inasmuch as the leading end of the package strip is always accessible inthe known package, it is relatively easy for a dishonest person to pickup a carton from, for example, a shelf of a drugstore and pull out andremove one or more of the individual packages. Should such unauthorizedremoval of the packages take place, the ultimate purchaser of thepackage would obtain less than the represented quantity of thecommodity.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedpilfer-proof package of the general character described, that is, apackage the construction of which shall be such as to reduce thepossibility of unauthorized removal of the packages and to requiremodification of the package structure upon removal of the packages suchthat the fact that the package has been tampered with will be evidentupon examination of the carton.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a dispensing cartonso constructed that when it is completed by the manufacturer andsupplied to a retail dealer or the consumer, the end of the packagestrip will be inaccessible, and it will be necessary to tear away aportion of the carton wall in order to gain access to the package stripfor removal of the package so that the torn portion of the package willclearly indicate that the carton has been opened and that at least oneof the packages may have been removed.

Other objects, advantages and results of the invention will be broughtout by the following description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a pilfer-proofdispensing carton for package strips embodying the invention, showingthe carton in its initial packaged and closed condition;

FIGURE 2 is a composite side elevation and central vertical sectionalview of the carton shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view approximatelyon the plane of the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, showing the carton in opencondition;

3,115,93h Patented Dec. 31, 1963 FIGURE 5 is a similar view showing themanner of removing a package from the carton;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the plane of theline 66 of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged top plan view of the carton with a top wall orcover unfolded into open position and with portions thereof broken away.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the carton has been shownas rectangular and comprising a bottom wall 1, side walls 2, end walls 3and a top wall 4. The bottom wall '1 may be of any suitableconstruction, preferably such that the bottom end of the carton can beopened and the top wall 4 is preferably also of such a nature as topermit opening and closing of the upper end of the carton to permitinsertion and removal of the package strip' The carton has within it achamber that is rectangular in both longitudinal and transverse crosssection and of such dimensions as to enclose within it a guide support Afor holding and guiding a package strip B that is shown as comprisingtwo layers of flexible packaging material such as cellophane or metalfoil, sealed together along their longitudinal edges and transversely toform compartments 5 between the layers in which the commodity such astablets 6 is enclosed. The compartments with their commodities formprotuberances on and spaced 1ongitudinally of the strip and preferablythe strip is weakened as by scoring 7 between the compartments tofacilitate severing of the individual packages from the strips. A guidesupport A is shown as inverted U-shaped in crosssection and formed ofcardboard or the like of the same shape and dimensions as the interiorof the storage chamber in the carton and has a cut-away portion formingan outlet passage 9 between one wall 8' and the top wall 4 through whichthe leading end B of the package strip is pulled outwardly as best shownin FIGURES 2 and 6. A guide extension It} extends from and above saidwall of the guide support and provides a rounded fold 11 or lip at theinner edge of the guide passage 9 over which the package strip mustslide during its movement from the storage chamber through a dischargeopening that is provided at the top of the carton.

As shown, the top wall 4 of the carton is hinged to one side Wall asindicated at 12 and has a tuck flap 13 at its swinging edge forinsertion between the other side Wall and the guide support A as shownin FIGURE 2. The top wall is disposed at right angles to one end wall 3and when the package has been opened as hereinafter described, adischarge opening 14 is provided between the juxtaposed ends of saidwalls through which the leading end of the package strip is withdrawnfrom the carton (see FIGURE 6). However, initially the carton isentirely closed and said outlet opening is formed only upon removal of aportion of the carton. As shown, the end wall 3 has an inturned flap 15that overlies the free edge portion of the guide extension 10 and theleading end of the package strip as shown in FIGURE 2.

Thus when the guide support and the rolled package strip A are insertedinto the storage chamber, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the leading endof the package strip passes through the guide passage 9 over the foldededge 11 of the guide extension 10 and under the flap 15 as shown inFIGURE 2, and the package is initially sealed in this condition in anysuitable manner as by an adhesive sealing tape or label C that issecured to the top wall and side wall behind which the tuck flap 13 islocated, the sealing tape thus preventing unfolding or opening of thecover or top wall 4 until the sealing tape is torn or ruptured. Withthis construction, it will be observed that the leading end of thepackage strip is inaccessible as clearly illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 7.

Access to the package strip for removal of the packages is provided by aremoval of a portion of the carton wall, and as shown, the wall 3 whichcarries the flap 15 has weakened or scored lines '17 extendingdiagonally of said end wall from the ends of the line of juncture of theend wall and the flap and intersecting another scored or slit portion 18in said wall 3 which preferably is arcuate in shape and can be easilypressed inwardly of the carton by a thumb or finger. In order to openthe carton, the wall 3 is pressed inwardly along the scored line 18after which the portion of the wall bounded by the scored line 18 andthe lines 17 is gripped between the thumb and index finger and torn fromthe carton wall. This action results in a removal of a portion of thewall and the flap 15 so as to leave the end of the package strip Bexposed for removal of the packages as shown in FIGURES 4 and 6. Theopening 19 thus formed in the wall 3 makes itpossible to insert thefinger into the carton to grip the package strip, but preferably the topwall 4 has an opening 16 offset from the guide passage 9 and adjacentthe discharge opening 14 through which a human finger or other membermay be inserted into contact with the package strip for pushing thepackage strip through the discharge opening as shown in FIGURE 5. Thematerial of which the package and the guide support are formed, and thedimensions of the parts are such that the lip 10 is normally biasedtoward the underside of the top wall 4 so as to apply friction to thepackage strip and thereby restrain accidental movement of the strip intoand out of the carton, but, if desired, other means, such as those shownin said copending application Serial No. 15,320, may be utilized toprevent backward movement of the package strip into the carton. After apackage has been pulled out of the carton, as shown in FIGURE 5, itmaybe removed easily by simply tearing it along the weakened line 7 andalong the edge of the top wall 4.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that the carton with thepackage strip therein is supplied by the manufacturer in the form shownin FIGURE 1 and it is impossible to remove any portion of the packagestrip. However, when the portion of the wall 3 bounded by the weakenedlines 17 and 18 is torn away with the flap 15, it is easy to remove thepackage strip, and it is clearly evident that the carton has been openedand that possibly one or more of the packages may have been removed. Theonly other way to open the carton 41- would be to tear or remove thesealing tape or label C, and such removal would not be effected withoutdetection.

While the invention has been shown in connection with a particular formof carton and package, it should be understood that this is primarilyfor the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention and thatthe invention may be embodied in other types of packages andmodifications and changes can be made in the structural details of thecarton and of the package strip within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

I claim:

A package including a flexible package strip having commodity-containingcompartments and being severable between said compartments, and a cartonhaving walls forming a storage chamber for a plurality of layers of saidpackage strip with two of said walls meeting at an angle and one of saidtwo walls having a hole and the other of said two walls having a flapprojecting at an angle therefrom and extending inwardly beneath theother of said two walls and closing said hole, one end of said packagestrip normally being disposed beneath said flap and inaccessible fromoutside the carton, and a guide-support wall within said chamberunderlying said end of the package strip beneath said hole cooperatingwith one of said two walls to define a guide passage, said guide supportdisposed in closely spaced relation to said one wall, the wall fromwhich said flap projects having weakened zones extending diagonally ofthe wall from the ends of the line of juncture of said flap with thewall to a point within the boundaries of the wall providing for tearingthe wall along said weakened zones to remove a portion of the wall andsaid flap attached thereto and thereby expose said end of the packagestrip through said hole and form a discharge opening at the zone ofintersection of said two walls through which saidpackage strip may bepushed longitudinally out of said chamber by the insertion of a memberthrough said hole into contact with said package strip, thereby urgingsaid strip into contact with said guide support for movement thereover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,349,748 Otto May 23, 1944 2,771,214 Lefebvre Nov. 20, 1956 2,903,175Peimer Sept. 8, 1959 2,939,621 Mittleman June 7, 1960

